Coach Miller To Present at 2009 FIRST Robotics Conference

We will likely have all of the Microbots at the World Congress in Atlanta (even if we do not get an invitation). We had 2/3rds of them there last year!

Make plans to be in Atlanta for Wednesday, April 15th through the weekend. Hope to see you there!

Look for us at the conference, the FLL championship (hanging out with Joe Meno), or the FIRST Championship (with Team Awkward Turtle, our FIRST buddies - go Turtles - win the Richmond Regional!). We'll be wearing the orange Microbots T-shirts or maybe even a FIRST shirt!

From the 2009 FIRST Robotics Conference

The Pragmatic Use of Variables in FLL

Randy Miller

One of the rubric questions for First Lego League asks about the ability of team members to use variables if applicable. In our rookie year, we did not use any variables and could not see a need for them. However, as we progressed, we asked ourselves, “What can a variable be pragmatically used for in NXT/G and FLL?”This year’s challenge had an obstacle perfectly suited for variables, Find Agreement. We initially solved this challenge using variables but found a quicker, more efficient way to solve the challenge using an attachment. Even so, we found some interesting ways to use variables to solve common FLL problems as well as some limitations to the use of variables in NXT/G. This session will explore the inner workings of variables in NXT/G. It will show common ways to solve problems in FLL using these programming constructs. It will also show some things that will not work but look like they should. We end with a set of tips and tricks as we realize that many have had difficulty figuring out how they work.